Fetzer Vineyards: More Tastings Data for Better ROI

In 2015, Fetzer Vineyards increased its number of tastings with First Crush by more than 117 percent compared to 2014—in part to leverage Palaterra Tastings Platform data. “For us tastings are vital,” said Brian Dorn, regional vice president for Fetzer Vineyards. “Out of everything we spend to manage the business, tastings and incentives we run for our distributor team make up the bulk of what we do.”

Now when Dorn wants to analyze tastings spend or sales, he uses Palaterra to quickly slice and dice data. “If, for example, I wanted to compare sales between Retailer A and Retailer B, I couldn’t do that as easily if all I had was a bunch of spreadsheets that I’d saved for five or six months. The Palaterra Tastings Platform makes it so much faster and more convenient.”

Palaterra has given Fetzer the data it needs to not only increase ROI, but also to correct course as needed, such as when the company decided to discontinue tastings of some brands due to low conversion rates. “You could tell by looking at the reports over a few months that there wasn’t a strong enough response on the purchasing side,” said Dorn. “I was able to identify that and steer us more toward our core workhorse brands that do show more return on investment.”

Dorn is pleased with how Palaterra has helped Fetzer build a successful tasting strategy based on hard data, not guesses. “I think fact-based decisions are always better than gut decisions,” said Dorn. “What the platform has allowed me to do is make better decisions about what we’re choosing to do in the stores and where we’re choosing to spend our money.”

Ready to optimize your tasting program with the Palaterra Tastings Platform? To get your free demo contact Daniel Hernandez at (512) 229-5770, Daniel@palaterra.com, or fill out the demo request form.